


now and forever

by WattStalf



Series: Corrin Ship Week 2017 [7]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Corrin Ship Week, Drabbles, F/M, Pseudo-Incest, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-15 20:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10557278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: Two drabbles of unrequited love.





	1. Xander

**Author's Note:**

> last day of ship week and im sorry  
> Do these take place in the same universe?  
> I leave that up to the reader ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Corrin has a crush on her older brother.

That’s not something she’d ever come out and say so bluntly, but she knows that it’s true. By now, she’s not so naive that she can mistake her feelings for him for anything but romantic. She’s always known that Xander was particularly special to her, but now she knows her feelings for what they truly are.

It’s strange, but then again, it isn’t, when she thinks about. Of course, she knows that desiring a relationship with her own brother is  _ always _ strange, but when she considers her options and her situation...Xander is a handsome and strong man, one who has always been reliable and dependable as she grew. Even when he is stern, he is kind to her, and he is everything that she thinks a prince should be.

She’s read story books about the princesses locked away in towers, and Xander suits the role of the prince, of the knight in shining armor, better than any man she knows. Perhaps there is another man out there to rescue her and whisk her away, but she doesn’t know him. She only knows Xander, and so, Xander is the only one that she wants.

It’s as innocent as any crush on her own brother can be, and whenever he’s close to her, she feels her heart skip a beat, and whenever she knows that he’ll come to visit her soon, she’s giddy and excited. She knows that he’s just a little bit more affectionate toward her than he is her other siblings, and she also knows better than to assume that that means anything. He’s likely only doing it because he feels sorry for her, locked away as she is, but she’s happy nonetheless, knowing that she shares something with Xander that the others don’t.

She wants to marry him someday, but she’s too old to hope for something that silly, that impossible. With the way her father keeps her hidden away from the world, she’ll be lucky if she ever marries, but she’s almost glad that she might never be married off. Even if Xander has to take a bride one day, and even if that will hurt her plenty, she wouldn’t have to pretend to love someone she couldn’t care less about.

Corrin has a crush on her older brother, and she knows better, she really does, but that doesn’t stop her from feeling the way she does.

Her whole world is turned upside down when she discovers that she isn’t truly a part of her family. Everything she’s known throughout her life feels false, but through all of that, she can’t stop thinking about the fact that none of her siblings have any blood ties to her. As wrong as she knows it is to focus on something like that, she continually catches herself thinking,  _ None of my brothers and sisters are really my brothers or sisters. _

Her feelings for Xander have not faded; if anything, they’ve only grown. She stays with the family that raised her partially because of her love for him, and she wonders if this means anything. He’s always known the truth, which means that he’s never really considered her his little sister. If that’s the case, then maybe, now that she knows…

But that has to be wrong. He’s always treated her so well that she knows he must hold familial love for her, and even if she knows the truth now, she’s loved him since childhood, practically. No matter what, her feelings were wrong when she saw him as a brother, and she shouldn’t  _ stop _ seeing him as a brother, just because she happens to be adopted, in a manner of speaking.

Xander has always been there for her as an older brother, and he will always be there for her. If she pushes their boundaries too far, she’ll risk losing that. She keeps her feelings to herself, deciding to be content to have him as only her brother. Now and forever, she’ll at least have him close, even if that’s as close as they’ll ever be.


	2. Jakob

He remembers the touch of her hand vividly, even though it’s been years since the last time she grasped it, dragging him along behind her. They were young then, and he was full of mistakes and she was full of forgiveness, always telling him that he did a good job, even when he knew that he didn’t. Jakob has always considered himself lucky to have someone like Corrin.

She treats him far better than any servant deserves, infinitely better than he deserved when he was younger, but that was what made him want to improve. No amount of punishment helped, but a few kind words and a smile from Corrin was all that he ever needed. To her, he was more than just a servant, and now he would never be so bold as to call himself her friend, but back then...back then, that’s exactly what she was to him.

There was a time when he felt that she was the only person in the world who showed him any kindness, and he still often feels that she is the only one who truly cares for him. It’s no wonder that he fell in love with her, but he  _ knows _ that this his greatest failure as a butler.

To fall in love with his mistress, his princess...it’s a foolish mistake, something he should have been more guarded against, and yet he couldn't stop himself. He couldn't even stop himself from thinking of her as a friend, even when he knew how improper it was, and now, he's really dug his own grave.

Jakob can still remember the touch of her hand vividly, and sometimes he can only barely stop himself from reaching out to grab it and hold it again. She is the kindest woman he knows, and she wouldn't be cruel when rejecting him, but he knows better than to expect anything other than rejection. After all, she's a princess, from a completely different world than him, nothing more than a street urchin given a chance at servitude.

As kindly as she treats him, he knows his place. Now and forever, he’ll be worlds beneath her, even if she is the only one who truly cares about him. Even if she is the only one he truly cares about, and the only one he is willing to show kindness to. As his feelings for Corrin change, so do his feelings for others, and the more sure he becomes that he loves her, the more sure he becomes that she will always be the only one he loves.

This means that he’s doomed to a life of unrequited love, and doomed to a life of never accepting anyone else into his heart. Some might say that the latter is his choice, and maybe it is; Jakob knows that he would make that choice either way.

He’s a failure as a butler for falling in love with Corrin, but now that he has, of course, he has to do the best possible job at it, and to fall for someone else would only make him that much more of a failure. Even if he has to be cold to everyone, showing his warmth only to her, then he’ll make it so.

Jakob doesn’t know the first thing about love, or what it’s supposed to be or what it’s supposed to mean. All he knows are his own feelings, and as long as he keeps them to himself, he has only his own guidance to rely on. And so, he decides to keep his love to himself, both as a secret and as something that he will never share with anyone else.


End file.
